Progress Party rejects budget offer (Dagsavisen)

Last night the three coalition partners, the Conservatives, Christian Democrats and Liberals, handed the Progress Party an outlined proposal for resolving the budget disagreement between them. But the Progress Party’s economic policy spokesperson, Siv Jensen, rejected the proposal, and accused the Government of showing little interest in negotiating. "When two parties negotiate the idea is to start at opposing ends of the scale and work towards the middle. My impression here is that they just want us to move over to their side," said Ms Jensen yesterday. The Government is due to make a new offer to the Progress Party today.

Annoyed by Conservative crumbs (Dagbladet)

All Jan Tore Sanner, the Conservatives’ chief negotiator, offered Siv Jensen during yesterday’s budget negotiations was a few crumbs. Not a krone more for defence and just a few million in additional tax cuts. The Government’s offer did not top NOK 500 million, and it made the Progress Party see red. If the Government is not more forthcoming when the parties meet this morning, the budget negotiations could be heading for a breakdown.

LO unhappy with industrial policy (Dagens Næringsliv)

The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), led by Gerd-Liv Valla, has made a strong attack on the Government’s industrial policy. The LO has accused the Government of replacing industrial policy with stock market policy, and says the proposed tax cuts are mainly intended to put money in shareholders’ pockets at the same time as important state-owned assets are being put up for sale.

Progress Party demands huge privatization drive (Dagsavisen)

The Progress Party is demanding a binding agreement with the Government to ensure real competition for local authority services. The Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) is now pushing for the Progress Party’s proposal for so-called VAT compensation to be adopted. The intention is to ensure parity between public sector agencies and private companies who are bidding to provide services for the public sector. If a local authority uses its own cleaning staff no VAT is liable for the job, but if the same service is purchased from a private sector provider 24 per cent VAT must be added to the bill.

Longer wait for juvenile asylum-seekers (Aftenposten)

Refugee children are spending an increasing length of time in reception centres waiting to be resettled. Eight out of ten unaccompanied children spend more than six months in a reception centre. Almost half of them stay for more than a year. 340 children are currently living in refugee reception centres. The goal was to reduce the waiting time for refugee children, but they are actually having to wait longer. The Immigration Directorate blames the local authorities which take too long organizing the children’s resettlement.

Hospitals threatened with strike chaos (Dagbladet)

Hospitals face widespread strike action in January when the central government takes over administration of the hospitals from the county authorities. Nurses are demanding parity and new wage agreements in connection with the transfer, while the employers are only offering an extension of their existing agreements. When the major hospital reform of former Health Minister Tore Tønne comes into effect on 1 January, around 30,000 nurses will get a new employer. They are currently employed in county-run hospitals and have their wages and conditions regulated by an agreement with the Norwegian Association of Local Authorities (KS). This agreement differs slightly from the one covering employees in state-run hospitals.

Worth Noting

• The Socialist Left Party has proposed changes amounting to NOK 16 billion in the national budget for 2002. NOK 4.8 billion of this figure will be raised by means of new direct and indirect taxes. (Aftenposten)
• If the Socialist Left Party’s budget were adopted someone receiving social security benefits would earn as much money as an MP. (Dagsavisen)
• Behind closed doors the Government has offered to privatize the transportation of prisoners to and from prison in an effort to win Progress Party support for its budget proposal. VG has gained access to a secret budget document from the Finance Ministry to the Government’s negotiators in the Storting which shows that they have more such goodies up their sleeves. (Verdens Gang)
• The Young Liberals want to sack party leader Lars Sponheim – but no one is ready to take over. "In light of the party’s poor election result we believe that the whole of the Liberal leadership should consider resigning," said Monica Tjelmeland, the Young Liberals’ recently elected leader. (Aftenposten)
• Senior executives at SAS and Braathens are in a quandary following the American Airlines crash in New York yesterday. The companies do not yet know what effect this accident will have on future developments in the airline industry. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• The Bondevik government has slashed millions of kroner off subsidies to the shipping industry and agriculture, allocations to the Norwegian Industrial and Regional Development Fund (SND) and investments in business-oriented research. "This represents a substantial cutback for individual industries and a clear change in industrial policy," said Arne Hyttnes, head of the SND. (Aftenposten)
• Motorists who have an accident in a road tunnel should be prepared to have to save themselves. Olav Søfteland, chief executive of the Directorate of Public Roads, is unwilling to invest substantial sums of money to prevent disasters which may never happen. (Aftenposten)
• Norway’s traditional mountain dairy farms are to be used to sell Norwegian food and holidays on the Continent. Yes, Norway plans to become Europe’s premier destination for mountain dairy farms. An anachronism, say some. Artificial romanticism, say others. Wrong, reply the market researchers, the tourist industry, the Norwegian Society for Rural Development and a great many others behind a comprehensive report on the culture and daily life associated with Norway’s mountain dairy farms. (Aftenposten)

Today’s comment from Nationen

After the survival of the Kyoto climate change agreement was secured in Marrakech our new Environment Minister, Børge Brende, is being celebrated as a hero by environment organizations and developing countries. We wish to add our voice to those accolades. It is excellent when Norway makes its mark at the forefront of environmental policy, and it is particularly nice that a Conservative minister should appear in such vigorous contrast to his Labour predecessor. We are particularly happy that Mr Brende dared to depart from the traditional Norwegian softly-softly approach to the world’s environmental ‘bad guys’, the USA, Canada, Australia and Japan. It is a change in policy we have believed was necessary for a long time. We are now eager to see how Mr Brende follows up on the domestic front, and in particular with regard to ‘clean’ gas-fired power stations. It will be no bed of roses, but Mr Brende has made a promising start.